The Doctor Donna
by featherkitten
Summary: The Doctor might have a way to save Donna Noble but he needs some help. He gets an unexpected bit of help from someone he doesn't expect.
1. Chapter 1

I realize that there is an argument to be made for why 10 couldn't do this but I feel like its an interesting what if.

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><p>It occurred to the Doctor that he did have a solution. It was a long stretch, he didn't even know if he could do it. He wasn't sure if he even had time to do it.<p>

But maybe just maybe he could turn Donna into a Time lord. The Doctor cupped Donna's face and looked her into the eyes. "Donna, I need you to trust me."

"What are you going to do?"

"Its a long stretch. I don't know if this is going to work."

"Doctor, what are you going to do?" Donna asked impatiently.

"I'm going to make you a Time lord. Or try to at least. I don't know how much time I have to do this. I might be able to hold it back for a while."

"You bloody well better try space man."

It wasn't easy. He had put Donna in a temporary like state, held back the threatening explosion of her head. Hooked up the TARDIS to act like a life support for her but there was only so much the old girl could do. It would be nice to have Donna use her new Time lord mind to help him but he didn't dare risk it.

Make the pocket watch turn the human into a Time Lord instead of the other way around. Donna already had some Time Lord DNA, he was the Doctor and he had saved the universe with a kettle and a piece of string. The Oncoming Storm and he had gotten up from his tinkering and kicked the TARDIS in a fit of shook from side to side and started moving.

"No! Not now! I have to save Donna!" he shouted as he tried to cling to the console. The TARDIS didn't listen. After it stopped shaking the Doctor looked at the monitor. Why out of everywhere in time and space had she brought him to a prison? He didn't have much time to consider that question before there was a knock on his door. He opened the door and looked at a familiar curly haired individual.

"Hello sweetie."


	2. Chapter 2

I love Janto: thanks. She knows what's best even if the Doctor doesn't always realize it. That's okay, it hasn't been up for very long and I didn't see your comment until I was about to add another chapter.

grandprincessanastasiaromanov5: thanks.

jeliclesoul635: thanks for the alert.

I wasn't planning on putting River here in the beginning. It just happened.

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><p>"River?" What was she doing in prison? And why had the TARDIS brought him to her of all people?<p>

"Well are you going to stand there gaping or invite me in?"

"Look I don't have time for this. I'm doing something really important and we'll have to catch up some other time."

He turned around was about to close the door when River said "Doctor." Something about her tone made him stop and turn to look at her. He wondered how far away the Library was for her.

"I know the TARDIS doesn't always take you where you want to go," River said. Well, that was an understatement. In this case it had taken him when he absolutely had not wanted to go anywhere. "But she takes you where you need to go," River continued before he could make some snide remark. "I don't believe that she would have brought you to me if she didn't know you needed me. I could help Doctor."

"What do you about gallifreyan technology?" the Doctor asked.

"You'd be surprised," River said smugly. She pushed past him and into the TARDIS. River looked around the TARDIS. Whatever the Doctor was working on, was lying near the console.

"You keep redecorating, I don't like it," she said.

"Tell me River can I trust you?" the Doctor asked.

"I think you already know the answer to that," she said. "Come on, you don't have all the time in the universe now do you? Tell me what are you working on?"

The Doctor gave in and explained everything to her, welll everything he had time to explain anyway. His friend Donna had absorbed a Time Lord mind and it was burning though her head so he decided that the best way to save her was to turn her into a time lord. Or Time Lady if you prefer. So the Doctor and River worked together on reprogramming the watch. It wasn't easy but they soon got their result, at least they hoped they had.

They went to Donna who the Doctor had kept in the medical bay of the TARDIS. She looked peaceful, they could almost forget that she was in danger of dying if she wasn't hooked up to life support and if they weren't holding the device which may save her life.

Delicately the Doctor opened up the watch in Donna's face. He watched the swirls of gold come into her mouth. She glowed brightly and for a moment the Doctor wondered if she was going to regenerate before she opened her eyes and looked up at them.

"Doctor? Professor Song?" Donna asked.

"How do you feel?" the Doctor asked.

"I have a hell of a headache space man," she replied.

"You're body is still adjusting," River said as she checked Donna's vitals. "But it looks like you'll pull though."

"No offense meant but why are you here?" Donna demanded. Meeting in the wrong order and this being a younger version of River or whatever Donna could understand but still what was she doing here?

"I needed help," the Doctor answered. "And I got it. You wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for Professor Song."

"Well you did some of the work," River countered.

"Let's get you home," the Doctor told Donna. "Unless you want to do a bit more traveling first. We could go to the Planet of the Hats." River gave an exasperated groan at that suggestion. Donna wondered if the Doctor had ever taken River there or was going to take River there maybe.

"We'll have to go there some other time," Donna said. "After everything I'd like to go home again." A Time Lady. She suddenly wondered if she had thought this though. How would she handle living that long or regenerating? It was still better than going back to what she used to be. It had to be.

"Maybe I can help pilot the TARDIS now," Donna said. "Make sure we get to the right place this time."

"I can teach you," River said.

"I can pilot my own TARDIS!" the Doctor exclaimed but they didn't seem to be listening as River continued with "You should know that he always leaves the brakes on."

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><p>Does the TARDIS have a medical bay? I don't know but its said to have a lot of rooms and if the TARDIS can create rooms there could have been one at some point.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

dm1: fair point. I just can't remember if New Who ever mentioned a med bay and I haven't seen enough of Classic Who to know if it has one.

I'm not sure how this would change the timelines. For some reason I can imagine the 11th Doctor coming back for her and saying "sorry, I was busy. I met a little girl, accidentally made her wait 12 years, had to restart the universe, got married. It's a long story." But hopeful that wouldn't happen. This was just a what if idea and most likely I won't end up doing a rewrite of the series because rewrites are very difficult to do. I tried one rewrite of a different fandom and that was because I had a bunch of problems with all the seasons after season 1. Doctor Who isn't perfect but I don't know where I would begin.

Donna has a lot of thinking to do. The change will take some getting used to but maybe now she'll be able to find the guy she met in the Library. Yeah, the Doctor really does need his companions to ground him and he doesn't take losing them very well.

I didn't think of that. Maybe the TARDIS will teach Donna how to fly her like she did with River.

amichalap: thanks for the fave.

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><p>The Doctor had managed to fly the TARDIS to the right place. It was a relief to say the least. Although Donna still entertained thoughts of learning to fly the machine herself. Maybe she'd take River up on her offer of flying lessons one day.<p>

Once home Donna explained as best she could to her family what had happened. The Doctor and River stayed for moral support, although they mostly had to answer Donna's mother's questions. It wasn't easy, especially not with the scientific ramblings that the Doctor had gone into which only the three Time Lords in the room had understood. Her mother had just called it mad ramblings. On that Donna couldn't blame her, it had been hard to keep to keep up with what the Doctor was saying before her... transformation she supposed. Donna wasn't sure what to call it really. It was strange, the beating of two hearts and a brain capacity that must be more than double of what she had before.

It was rather late when Donna said that she needed some rest. She wasn't sure how important sleep was to Time Lords but it had been a long day and aside from her body was still adjusting she could use some alone time.

"You get some sleep sweetie," Wilfred said. "We can discuss this more in the morning if we need to."

"Thanks grandpa." She turned to the Doctor and River. "Thank you to both of you really. I don't know how I'm going to handle being a different species but this means so much to me. I've done so much and I'd be worst off having forgotten all of it. And this isn't the last you've seen of him space man. Do you hear me?"

The Doctor did a salute. "Loud and clear ma'am," he said. "And don't worry Donna Noble you are going to be a brilliant Time Lord."

"Damn right I am. Do I ever meet you again River?"

River winked at her and said "spoilers."

"Right," the Doctor said. "I should get River back to prison. I hope to see you all again soon. Take care Wilf."

"Prison?" Donna's mother asked.

"Spoilers," River said again. After that the Doctor and River Song left. As the TARDIS disappeared Donna couldn't help but wonder if they were going to make it back to the prison. Wherever they were going, Donna hoped their next visit wasn't too far off. She was going to miss them, even though she hadn't known River Song for that long.

Once she was in her room, the first thing Donna did wasn't collapse on her bed like she had expected but look in her mirror. She had a full length mirror and as vain as it might be, she felt like looking herself over. She hadn't physically changed but she knew that she was likely to. What would her next regeneration be like she wondered. Would she be thin? Or short? Look younger? Older? Could she change skin color or gender? She couldn't imagine being a man but maybe it feel natural once it happened. The Doctor's biggest problem had been not being ginger. She wondered how he would feel about being a woman.

It was a bizarre train of thought for her and Donna decided to abandon it and go to bed. She prepared for bed and then feel into an uneasy sleep. She had odd dreams of regenerations and hats that but she couldn't properly recall the dreams in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

I love Janto: yep. I don't even always remember the tech stuff. Yeah, me too. Ha ha, poor Doctor.

dm1: yeah, their relationship is so important to the Doctor. It must have been like losing another family when he locked up Donna's thoughts in the canon. I'm not sure what I would think in Sylvia's situation and the Doctor's comment about taking River back to prison certainly didn't help.

I always love it when she says that. Of course you're entitled to your opinion though. They might have to move around a bit, someone would notice Donna never aging eventually. I'm not sure what Donna is going to do now. I like the thought of her meeting Amy and them bonding over being feisty gingers. Neither can I come to think of it but then I don't have a next regeneration for her in mind. Thanks for the alert.

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><p>"Well we're here," the Doctor said as he looked at the console. The right place two times in a row that wasn't bad for the TARDIS.<p>

"She'll be alright you know," River said.

"How do you know that?" the Doctor demanded. "I wanted to save her but now that's she's a Time Lord people might experiment on her, try to sell her or even mistake her for me. And she'll out live everyone she knows. Her friends and family." He looked down.

"Doctor," River said softly, "this was Donna's choice."

"She was dying."

"And she begged you not to let her forget instead of begging you to save her. Who she became what she did when she traveled with you, its important to her." River knew that despite everything she wouldn't change what had happened to her, not one line of it. It made her who she was and there were still so many amazing things that had happened to her. "And being a Time Lord will change a lot, she knows that. But Doctor she is going to be fantastic."

The Doctor gave her a small smile. "Yeah, she is." The Doctor pulled her into a hug. River didn't expect it but returned the hug all the same. Neither really wanted to let go but the Doctor did anyway. "Anyway," he said, "you should probably get back before the guards start looking for you."

"Oh, they don't bother anymore. They just sound the alarm for a while. Well sweetie, I'll be seeing you around."

"I certainly hope so." With that River Song exited the TARDIS and the Doctor was alone once again.

"Just you and me old girl," he said before dematerializing the TARDIS. Donna may not be ready to travel again but at least there was a chance he'd see her again. Maybe he'd run into River too. There were still adventures to be had before then. Maybe he'd visit the moon of Poosh. The Doctor smiled widely, there were still so many places to see and an awful lot of running to do.


End file.
